Three girls studying at a prestigious medical institute in Karnataka’s Udupi were suspended after they filmed another student in the women’s washroom.
The suspended girls — Alimatul Shaifa, Shabanaz and Aliya — had allegedly placed video cameras in the women’s washrooms to record their fellow students showering or using the toilets, according to reports.
According to sources, the Muslim girls had placed a mobile camera in the toilet to take pictures of Hindu girls. The pictures of girls taken inside the toilet were circulated on a WhatsApp group. On realizing that a mobile camera was placed inside the toilet, students from Hindu community raised the alarm, which ended up in a brawl between the girls of both communities.
When the incident came to light, there were angry protests by other students over the violation of privacy and demanding strict action against the accused. The optometry institute then suspended the three students.
According to the director of the institute, the accused were suspended for two reasons — first, they brought mobile phones to college, which are banned, and second, they used them to film a video in the washroom.
As expected, this incident has created a sort of furore in the nation. Many people on social media have drawn parallels with the infamous 1992 Ajmer sex scandal, in which hundreds of school-going and college girls were blackmailed with nude photographs and gang-raped by men from the minority community.
Rashmi Samant, an activist, linked the Udupi incident with that of Ajmer’s. In a series of tweets, she alleged that “unsuspecting” girls who were blackmailed with naked photographs were disturbed and pushed towards ending their lives.
Karnataka Government is harassing people who are raising this issue
The Karnataka police said that no hidden cameras were placed inside the toilet, and no videos were circulated. It denied any communal angle, saying that “misinformation” was being spread. Whereas the BJP accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of “intimidation and harassment”.
Samant detailed how her family and she faced harassment from the local police, with her elderly parents being subjected to unnecessary interrogation, simply because she expressed concern over the incident and tried to bring it to the attention of the mainstream media. “The police sent a jeep with officers to my house late last night and questioned my parents, making it an interrogation and subjecting them to mental trauma,” she said.
BJP accused Karnataka Govt for unleashing Jihadi elements against Hindu Women
Alt News, which is known for spreading wrong information and unleashing army of Jihadi trolls against people on social media, has once again stood the ground and tried to downplay this incident. They instead call it a non-communal incident. The jihadi elements have instead started threatening the females raising their voices against this incident.
BJP Karnataka made a stern statement, where they said that Priyank Khadge (Karnataka Minister and son of Congress President Mallikarjun Khadge) must be held accountable for Jihadi elements unleashing online lynch mobs against Hindu women for standing up for the rights of Hindu students in Udupi. It is the direct result of not only emboldening these extremist elements referring to them as ‘Chief’, but also backing them in all forms in the name of ‘fact-checking’.
BJP also accused that Karnataka’s Congress government is funding outsiders & pliable media to threaten & intimidate Hindus for raising their voices against the anti-Hindu mindset of the Siddaramaiah govt.
College Administration is also downplaying this incident, calling is Prank
The college management has also faced criticism for dismissing the act as a prank and deleting the video in the victim’s presence.
“They are trying to downplay the issue by calling it a prank. A prank can be making a funny video. Placing a video camera in the toilet is a pre-meditated crime. I tweeted a news article aimed at amplifying the incident and highlighting it. As I belong to Udupi, I felt strongly about it,” said Samant.
The All College Student Power, a right-wing student organization, has filed a police complaint accusing the college management of attempting to downplay the incident and only imposing suspension on the accused students, despite a breach of the college’s ban on mobile phones, in addition to the videotaping.
Karnataka Police is making dubious statements
The Karnataka Police maintained that there were no hidden cameras in the washroom and that they did not receive any complaints from the Hindu girls alleging recording of the video in the toilet.
The police said that the mobile phones of the three girls were checked to see if there were any videos and if they had been forwarded. However, no video was forwarded, a senior police official said.
Wherever, the same official added, “Whatever was recorded was deleted immediately. Cops checked social media and didn’t find a single video of the incident.”
It is also important to know that College administration has suspended three Muslim girls. Is there was nothing happened, then why would College Admin suspended them?
BJP demands immediate arrest of the accused Muslim girls
Udupi MLA Yashpal Suvarna, along with several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, has urged the police to take up the issue suo motu and “arrest the accused immediately”.
Urging for a thorough investigation, Suvarna told News18 that the incident has also raised the suspicion of a conspiracy and the possible involvement of jihadi organizations. He added that he would discuss the matter with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, demanding a fair and thorough investigation.
“I am also concerned that such incidents tarnish the reputation of Udupi district, which is known for its academic excellence and respect for women,” Suvarna said.
Several BJP leaders have also tweeted about the incident, calling for a detailed probe.
According to the local BJP unit, the three suspended students are from the Muslim community, while the victim belongs to the Hindu community, which could potentially escalate communal tensions if not investigated.
Update
The Udupi district police have at last lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against the Muslim students who clandestinely recorded private video of Hindu students in the washroom of the Netra Jyoti college in Udupi.
As per reports, the police have filed two cases in the matter, one case is linked to three female students and college administration for the deletion of a video of a student filmed in the toilet. The second case pertains to uploading of a hidden camera video on YouTube channels.
The college management conducted an inquiry into the matter and concluded that the video had been deleted, closing the case. However, due to public outrage, a suo moto case has been registered at the Malpe Police Station in the Udupi district.
This is a big slap for the Congress party, its ecosystem, and the so called Fact-checkers like Alt News. Despite being categorically reported that the perpetrators and victims belonged to two separate communities, these people were calling it a ‘Prank’ and even harassing the people who raised the alarm and talked about this incident.
